roganjosh

Last night I went to Saidaiji-eyo, an ancient Japanese holy tradition that is also known as Hadaka Matsuri, or more recently - the naked man festival. Thousands of men wearing loincloths descend on the Saidaiji temple for a purification ceremony/contest that involves them wading into the freezing water of a temple pool near the river, then praying at the shrine before marching around the temple, under some ropes and then back into the water to repeat the praying and marching one more time. Once this has been completed the men start to gather in groups on the front of the temple waiting for midnight, when the lights are turned out and the priests throw shinji sticks into the crowd. The men who manage to grab the sticks and make it out of the temple are said to be guaranteed good fortune for the coming year. Over the years the competition has become quite organised, with groups of men developing strategies on how best to make sure that one of their number is the man; so that as you watch the writhing mass of bodies that are pressing themselves up the temple steps and into the main part of the building it starts to look like some weird combination of sumo and american football, only played by hundreds of teams on a pitch about the size of a tennis court.

The first groups of men were starting the washing and marching when I turned up at about 9pm, but it wasn’t until about 11:00 that people started to mass on the temple and then there was still an hour of waiting while the build up commenced. As more and more bodies threw themselves in the crowd would bulge, and teeter on the edge of falling down the steps. People would faint, and the massed ranks of the security teams would surge into the crowds leaving a corridor of guards to pull the unfortunate to safety. Some of the competitors were so drunk that their friends were having to hold them up, despite the warnings being given out in English about how no naked men were allowed to take part who were under the influence of liqour. Although most people were wearing white loincloths there were a few people to be spotted wearing black ones, and the considered opinion of people in the crowd seemed to be that they were yakuza! This was serious stuff, and dangerous at that. Quite a few drunken gaijin (foreigners) were joining in as the night progressed, but this was not a Japanese tradition I’d want to be a part of - and I very much doubt that my insurance covers me for acts of lunacy!

So the crowd gathered, and security dived in every once in a while, and the spectators stood in their spots for hours waiting until finally it was midnight - the lights went out and the naked men roared as the sticks were thrown in, and then… well, I have no idea! The sticks seemed to leave the temple pretty quickly, and bubbles of activity spilled out of the temple with them as teams protected their man, or sought to get the sticks off someone else. Scuffles broke out amongst the naked men, and also in the crowd of spectators. Within five minutes it appeared to be over, or to at least to have reached the point where making sense of anything going on was impossible. And that was that - I pushed my way out and followed the stream of other people leaving, naked men running to the changing areas around us, and made my back to the station and back to my warm hotel room in Okayama, not entirely sure what to make of the evening!

I’ve put some blurry photos of the whole thing here. Ladies of a sensitive disposition be warned, buttocks are visible!

I went to Hiroshima, which is by necessity a very modern city. The peace park at its centre is full of trees and crowding around it are hotels, office blocks and shopping malls. It would be incredibly hard to make the connection between the destruction of Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on it in 1945 and the city that it is today if it weren’t for the A-bomb dome; The skeletal remains of the concrete and metal building sat on the bank of the river next to the peace park, unchanged since it was gutted. In wartime Hiroshima, as in most Japanese cities, the majority of buildings were made of wood. Pictures taken a few months after the bombing show only a handful of concrete buildings left standing, while all around them are the charred remains of rubble and tree stumps. The A-bomb dome is instantly recognisable in those pictures, and I think it’s lucky that the city held onto it in its current state when people wanted to tear it down and move on.

Modern day Hiroshima is an incredibly friendly city, and I enjoyed my two nights there. Aside from the peace park and museum I made an excursion to nearby Miyajima island, home of the famous floating torri gate, which is the second of Japan’s most beautiful/photographed scenes that I’ve now visited - only one more and I’ve got the complete set! Miyajima is stunning, with wild deer, pagodas and temples everywhere you turn, and the famous gate sitting in the bay. I’ve moved on to a larger island now - Shikoku - the smallest of the major islands that make up Japan. Going to be spending a couple of nights here before seeing if I can make it to the naked man festival in Okayama! I’ll keep you posted…

Okay - here are the snow festival ones

After all that travelling around to get to Sapporo it was nice to spend a couple of days in a city just staying put! The Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) was huge, in terms of the size of the site, the size of the sculptures and the number of people that visited. The main action was centered around Odori park; a mile long strip of mini-parks criss-crossed by the main roads through the city, and along the whole length there were snow and ice carvings. The biggest sculptures were the backdrops to stages on which bands and other performances were dwarfed by the scale models of pyramids and sphinxes, a wooly mammoth the size of a house, and several movie and game tie-ins. Probably the most impressive of all the sculptures was a model of Inuyuma castle, that took several thousand people a month to make - with most of the intricate parts being created from moulds and then hand smoothed into place.

The smaller sculptures built by teams from around the world were often equally as detailed the professional jobs, and tended to be a lot funnier. Most of the ones involving Japanese characters were simply baffling, but almost every cartoon character in the world was on display somewhere or other, from Totoro to Thomas the Tank Engine, and I was delighted when I found Domo-kun standing to attention in one of the parks.

So wandering around Odori park, and the ice carvings down the road at Susukino, is pretty much how I spent my time in Sapporo! I had meant to go off into the Hokkaido countryside or go snowboarding, but it I never got round to it. I did manage a trip to the Sapporo beer museum (where I skipped the tour and went straight for the all you can eat and drink deal in the beer garden) and an evening in a little town called Otaru who have their own mini snow festival where they light up their streets and canals with snow candles (nice place, excellent sushi!) but apart from that I was mostly snow and people watching. Actually I probably would have made the effort to go snowboarding, but on what should have been my last day in Sapporo proper I managed to fall on my arse on some ice and bruise up my wrists, to the point where picking up my rucksack was agony! I figured trying to go sliding down a slope on a piece of wood in that state was too risky, and spent an extra day hanging out in the city while my bruises sorted themselves out a bit.

A bonus of bashing myself up though was that I was in the city the day after the snow festival ended, and it was quite fun walking around watching the demolitions teams bringing their excavators in to trash these intricate displays that had taken so long to build! Still, you can’t get too attached to your snowmen - and there’s always next year!

I’ve spent the last week or so exploring northern Honshū and I think I can safely report that there aren’t many other tourists here! The few that I have run into are either heading out skiing, or are on their way to Sapporo for the snow festival - but by a far more direct route than I’ve taken! Anyway, take a look at the places I’ve been to in the last seven days and witness the awesome power of the Japanese Rail network:

Matsumoto - laid back city with a pretty impressive castle and at least one great onsen! Stayed in a very friendly guesthouse where I was the only guest, but the owner shared plenty of local sake and kelp with me. Kelp is surprisingly tasty, once you get past its snot like appearance.

Yudanaka - SNOW MONKEYS! Actually, not as exciting as I’d hoped. I was expecting a huge lagoon full of monkeys diving around, but in reality it was just a monkey hot tub, built by the hotel down the road I suspect. Certainly not worth flying David Attenborough all the way to Japan to look at them (as the BBC did a few years back)

Nagano - The rather faded olympic podium in the middle of the city is a bit comic, but the Zenkuji temple to the north of the city centre is stunning, especially with all the surrounding buldings and trees draped in snow. I stayed in the youth hostel that’s in one of the temple buldings, which is great till you get up in the morning and discover there’s no hot water and the only person around is a monk who won’t stop chanting.

Matsushima - Reckoned to be one of the 3 most beautiful places in Japan by one of the thousand lists of these type of things that the Japanese produce, and the little bay with hundreds of islands in it is very pretty. It’s a hell of a walk up into the hills to get a view of the whole thing though, particularly when you keep getting lost on the way. Just about worth it though. So long as the cafe at the top is open.

Sendai - I didn’t make it out of the train station in Sendai city, though I did head out to the suburbs to stay in a hostel in an old farmhouse. Lovely building, shame about the highway and the McDonalds moving in next door.

Kakunodate - Old Samurai village in which you can look into old samurai houses. The ones that are open anyway. One of the nicest ones had had a concrete floor put into parts of it though, and you could walk around without taking your shoes off - It felt VERY wrong.

Morioka - Quite a nice little city. If I’d stuck around another day I could have seen a snow candle festival taking place around the old castle, but I figured I’ll have no shortage of snow and ice related festivals over the next couple of days.

Aomori - The city in the bay at the top of Honshū that is the last major stop before you go through the senkai tunnel to Hokkaido. I stopped off for lunch and got back on the train.

Hakodate - Here I am! Going to have a chance for a quick explore of the city tomorrow, but for now it’s very cold outside and I’m going to see if there are any amusing Japanese game shows on the hotel TV. Ta ra!

I’ve been in Tokyo three days now but what with jet lag messing around with my sleep and the fact that I’m staying in the same neighbourhood as on my first visit it feels like I’ve been here much longer. It’s kind of funny how familiar everything is, how many places I recognise from stumbling around the streets last time I was here. I’ve done a couple of touristy things (shopping and sighseeing) and I even managed to make myself useful proofreading some stuff for the nice ladies in the Japanese Tourist Office! Still, where’s the fun in hanging around places you already know? I’ve got a week to kill before I get to the snow festival so I’m heading north from Tokyo into the countryside to a place called Matsumoto, and from there with any luck I’ll swing over to Nagano and find some snow monkeys swimming around in the hot pools! It’s a plan of sorts…

for the b3ta If Everyday Objects were Transformers challenge

for the b3ta “Elvis” image challenge

or Wing Chun if you prefer

for the b3ta secret lives of animals challenge 

So I’ve come back from Glastonbury with a rotten cold and some battered waterproofs. I saw some great bands though, so here’s my myspace rerun of the festival:

Friday:

www.myspace.com/voodootrombonequartet
They don’t all play trombones and there are more than four of them. They are great though, and put on a fantastic show. I left early to see another act and apparently missed the burlesque performers dancing on the bar. Damn!

www.myspace.com/alicemclaughlin
A fantastic singer songwriter who I first saw years ago at the big chill festival and who I try to see as often as I can without looking like a stalker.

www.myspace.com/amywinehouse
Only caught some of the act, but she didn’t seem particularly enthused about performing. Great voice though.

www.peewee-ellis.com/
James Brown’s saxophonist playing with a very funky band, as you would expect.

www.myspace.com/gusgus
Caught a couple of songs by these guys as I wandered past the jazz world stage. Seemed more Dance than Jazz to me, but the singer’s outfit was pretty jazzy.

www.myspace.com/chumbawambamusic
Just caught the last song of their set by accident. It wasn’t “I get knocked down”

www.myspace.com/oivavoi
I managed to convince a load of people to come down and see this band despite never being able to describe what they sound like. Just have a listen, they’re great. And Alice Mclaughlin sings with them.

www.myspace.com/arcadefire
Didn’t actually go down to see them, but you could hear their set from the tent. I was resting up for bjork. Anyway, arcade fire sound pretty good from half a mile away.

www.myspace.com/bjork
Yay! The whole reason I wanted to go to glastonbury in the first place! I love bjork, but I’ve never seen her live before. I wasn’t blown away by the gig to start with, but that’s only because she sounded so faithful to the albums. Once she threw in a load more beats for “Army of Me” the whole thing kicked off! Great to be down in the crowd when the lazers lit up the sky. Yeah, she’s worth all the mud.

Saturday:
www.myspace.com/thepipettes
Three girls who dance around in spotted dresses and sing pop. An up-tempo start to the day.

www.myspace.com/voodootrombonequartet
Them again - caught the whole set this time, but no burlesque performers showed up. Damn!

Went for a few beers in the Bimble Inn tipi and heard a great female singer. Didn’t catch her name, but I liked her version of “Dancing in the dark”.

www.myspace.com/chkchkchk
They’re called “!!!” which is just asking for trouble when you’re searching for them on the internet. Only heard a few of their songs while I was convincing everyone else to come to the secret madness gig!

www.myspace.com/dynamo39srhythmaces
They do the best rock and roll cover of “Ace of Spades” you’re likely to hear!

www.myspace.com/madnessofficial
The highlight of the day! the official program only listed “Special guest: Ska heroes” but it was announced earlier on that Madness would be playing in the, frankly rather tiny, Lost Vagueness ballroom. Everyone crammed in and once Suggs hit the stage it was bouncing all the way! Madness!

www.myspace.com/puppinisisters
The group I had actually been going to see before I knew Madness were playing. Another girl group, but this time one that sings songs in a ’40s boogie woogie style. ace!

www.myspace.com/fatboyslim
Another secret gig! I’d never seen him live before and to be honest I wasn’t too fussed about sticking around, but he was brilliant. Had all his friends up on the stage, and occasionally ballerinas and hulahoop girls as well. For some reason he also got changed into a bumblee bee costume while he was spinning choons… a fun time for everyone!

Sunday:
www.myspace.com/mahalaraibanda
The mud was starting to be a drag by now so it was the afternoon by the time me and my mate Chris dragged ourselves down to the Jazz world stage looking for something to eat. Caught these guys playing while we ate baked potatoes. They sounded like the star wars cantina band, which is a good thing!

www.myspace.com/paulinescanlon1
Chilling out in the small world solar power tent and enjoying a coffee we caught an acoustic set by pauline scanlon and a guy on guitar. Traditional Irish folk songs that sounded fantastic. No, really!

www.myspace.com/dynamo39srhythmaces
just caught the end of their set again after miscalculating how long it would take me to trudge to their stage.

I would have seen Bill Bailey in the cabaret tent, but 10,000 other people beat me to it.

Flush from my success at finding out about the Madness gig I headed over to the park to see who the next unknown special guest was. I was bitterly disappointed to find out I’d been duped into going to see Pete Doherty. He sounded pretty bad, and didn’t improve in the time it took me to buy dinner and leave.

www.myspace.com/mikamyspace
Another set I only heard from my tent, but it sounded like everyone was having a great time.

www.myspace.com/thegoteam
Fantastic set that got everyone dancing in the mud! The lead singer was on fire, shaking her arse like a demon. Not entirely sure why she kept apologising for them only being a small band though.

www.myspace.com/kttunstall
The rain had really started by now, and it was a bit miserable being stuck outside the acoustic tent because of the huge crowd. With lots of coming and going I did eventually end up inside in the dry though, and thought KT was really good.

www.myspace.com/octoberacoustic
Playing out in the rain on the smallest stage off in the corner of the site I caught this singer songwriter who I thought was pretty good. The flyer I was given got reduced to pulp by all the rain seeping into my pocket…

www.myspace.com/corinnebaileyrae
Wandered past the jazz stage again and stopped for a few minutes to listen. She’s from Leeds you know! Eventually the rain forced me away, but she has an amazing voice.

www.myspace.com/paprikabalkanicus
More gypsy music - playing in a small tent they got everyone to join in. I even bought the CD.

www.myspace.com/alicemclaughlin
Go out on a high! Another gig by Alice, although she seemed a bit knackered to be honest. Still great to hear her sing live though. Honestly, I’m not a stalker…

just remembered! I saw this guy somewhere too - he played two guitars at once! I thought he was pretty good:

www.myspace.com/rodneybranigan 

for the b3ta updating art challenge

Had my first exam in about ten years today! Went okay, though the questions I was expecting didn’t quite come up the way I was expecting them to. Anyway, it felt good to finish off the last essay in a vaguely meaningful way and then be told to stop writing. So that’s the general philosophy exam out of the way, and since I presubmitted for logic and metaphysics I’ve only got one more exam to worry about - epistemology and methodology on the 31st. After that I’ll be working hard on the dissertation! Well, apart from when I head off to Glastonbury, or any other holidays I manage to squeeze in.

Speaking of Glastonbury I got Björk’s new album Volta the other day - wasn’t overly fond of it to start with, but it’s really grown on me now. I’m really looking forward to seeing her play at the festival! Here’s a scribble I did when I was bored of revising

I went to see Anthony Gormley’s Blind Light exhibition at the hayward the other day -go and see it if you get the chance, there’s some fantastic stuff in there! The water vapour room steals the show, but some of the sculptures are just as good.